Congress denounce govt claim for presence in OIC after resolution adopted on Kashmir

The Congress on Sunday said the Modi government claims that the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) inviting India to attend its plenary was a diplomatic success has fallen flat with the 57-nations grouping adopting a resolution that "supported" Pakistan on the Kashmir issue. "External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj attended the OIC meeting in Abu Dhabi. The NDA-BJP government touted it as a huge diplomatic success for India that it has been invited to attend the plenary...But what happened in Abu Dhabi is extremely disturbing for India," said Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari.

On Saturday, the Pakistan Foreign Office had said the conference concluded in Abu Dhabi with a resolution that "supported" Pakistan on the Kashmir issue. "In a resolution, the OIC member states reiterated that Jammu and Kashmir remain the core dispute between Pakistan and India and its resolution is indispensable for the dream for peace in South Asia," it claimed. Tewari Sunday said the Congress would like to ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi and EAM Swaraj whether this was "the diplomatic achievement".

Reacting to the resolution, New Delhi had Saturday asserted that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and the issue is strictly internal to the country. Raveesh Kumar, the spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs had said, "As regards the resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir, our stand is consistent and well known. We reaffirm that Jammu & Kashmir is an integral part of India and is a matter strictly internal to India."

Swaraj had attended the inaugural plenary of the 46th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) of OIC on Friday. She was the first Indian minister to address the OIC meeting. India's participation came despite strong demand by Pakistan to rescind the invitation to Swaraj to address the grouping which was turned down by the host UAE, resulting in Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi boycotting the plenary. Swaraj attended the meeting in Abu Dhabi on March 1 as the guest of honour at the invitation extended by the Foreign Minister of the United Arab Emirates.

(With inputs from agencies.)